Piston ring



NOV. 1, 1932. MALPAS 1,885,273

PISTON RING Filed May 25. 1931 9 \now or Patented Nov. 1, 1932 UNITEDSTATES fznarjaufr LCi-E ELLIS G. MALPAS, OF MUSKEGON, MICHIGAN; ASSIG'IQOR TO THE 'PISTON RING, COMPANY,

OF MUSKEGON, MICHIGAN, .A CORPORATIGNOF MICHIGAN PISTON RING Thisinvention relates to piston rings.

It is common in piston rings to provide the same with either acontinuous groove, or with a series of grooves or chambers spaced averyshort distance and separated by narrow bridges from each other at theirends around the ring. In either case at the parting in the ring, theends of the ring are grooves leaving very thin or narrow outstandinglips or flanges which; at the extreme ends of the ring at the parting,are to a large extent unsupported and are very liable to chip 011 orotherwise become broken in assembling or in service in an engine. Thebraking of small particles of iron from the thin outwardly extendingflanges above and below the grooved parting ends of the rings is veryundesirable, both from the standpoint of loss of efficiency in the ring,from possible scoring of cylinders, or the eventually carrying ofchipped or broken particles of iron to the crank case of the enginewhere the same mingle with the oil and may be carried or splashed tobearings with a resultant detriment thereto.

The present invention has for its object and purpose the construction ofa piston ring for obviating such weakening of the flanges produced bydeeply grooving the ring to its ends at the parting thereby providing aconstruction wherein the flanges are made very much less in depth withconsequent insurance against breaking or chipping of the same.

The invention may be understood from the following description, taken inconnection with the accompanying drawing, in which.

Fig. 1 is a plan view illustrating a grooved ring equipped with myinvention.

Fig. 2 is a fragmentary enlarged plan view of the parting ends of aring, with parts thereof shown in section to better illustrate theinvention.

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary elevation of the two portions of the ring, oneat each side of the parting, as shown in Fig. 2, and

Fig. 4 is a view similar to Fig. 3 showing the invention applied to aring in which the groove around the outer side of the same is notcontinuous but comprises a series of the I grooves around the ring whichare separated from: each other at their ends I short -distances. 1 1

Like reference characters referto like parts 7 in the different figuresof the drawing.

'The ring 1 isa single piece ring havinga parting '2 at one-side'as isusual in piston rings v and in theform of'ring shown in Figs. 1 to 3inclusive, a contmuous groove 3 1s cutln the outercurved side of thering arid from 1 the bottom of this groove at spaced apart intervalsdrainage slots .4 'for oilare sawed through to the inner curved sideofthe ring, the'ends of' said slots being separated by interv'ening posts5 integral with the' body of thering. I e a It is evident that with thegroove 3-c0n tinued its full depth to the ends of the ring at the;partingfth'e upper; and lower flanges which are left above aridbelowthe-groove are thin, particularly in the narrowwidthrings almostuniversally used in internal combustion engines; s'aidflanges bemgunsupported at their free ends; and the same are very :prone' to'chipoff,= crystalizeand break, or otherwise become disrupted.

In my invention in the' lformof the ring shown in Figs. l-to 3 inclusive"the endsof the groove 3ad'jacent eachen'd of the ring, at the parting2, are not continuedthe full depth of the groove, but'terminate a; shortdistanceffrom each end of the ring' at the parting and outwardlyextending humps or bosses 6 at each-side of the parting inthe groovefiare left providing much shallower grooves 7 between the outersides ofsaid bosses 6 and the outer edges ofthe flanges which; are left when thegroove-is cut. The flanges at each'side of the -much shallower shortgroove portions '7 in this manner are not weakened to any detrimentalextent-and and do not crystallize or otherwise-break or shatter inassembly or in'--service, while at the same timethe collectionofoil atthe partingof the ringin the groove around the-ring is not diminished toany detrimental degree.

The invention is applicable to-other types of flringsflthan gringsihaving a continuous groove. For instance,--as shown in Fig. 4,

the ring 100 having a parting 2a, is not grooved continuously around itsentire outer surface but sections or lengths of grooves 8 are made inthe outer surface of the ring, separated at their adjacent ends byintervening narrow spaced sections or bridges 9 which form part of theouter curved side of the ring. Drainage slots 10 are cut from thebottoms of the groove sections 8 through to the interior of the ring.

At the parting in'the ring, however, at each side thereof, a like bossor hump 6a is left in the ring so as to provide a shallow rather than adeep groove cut at the parting, for when the groove is deep as has beenheretofore made, it leaves narrow relatively deep and comparativelyfragile flange ends subject to breaking, crystalizing and the like.

The type of ring shown in Fig. 4, to which my invention is shown appliedis like that illustrated in my pending application Ser. No. 482,390,filed September 17th, 1930, and in the present application, I haveapplied thereto the integral raised reinforcing bosses 6a at the partingfor the purposes which have been described and set forth. This invention.is very practical and serviceable and of value in connection withpiston rings which are grooved across the parting ends thereof.

The invention is defined in the appended claims and is to be consideredcomprehensive of all forms of structure coming within their scope.

I claim:

1. A piston ring of substantially circular form, having a parting at oneside and grooved between its parallel fiat sides and at its outersurface at and for a distance to each side of the parting, said groovedirectly at and a short distance to each side of the partingbeingshallow and then deeper, there being integral outwardly projectingportions of the piston ring at each side of said parting providing thebottom of the shallow portions of the groove and ends of the adjacentdeeper portions thereof.

2. A piston ringhaving, a parting in a side thereof and formed with aseries of con secutive groove sections around the ring away from saidparting the adjacent ends of said groove sections running out to theouter curved surface of the ring and being spaced from each other byshort lengths of said outer surface of the ring, and bosses integralwith the ring at each side of the parting projecting into the adjacentgroove sections to within a short distance of the outer surface of thering, as specified.

3. A construction containing the elements in combination defined inclaim 2 combined with passages extending through the ring from thebottoms of said groove sections to the inner surface of the ring.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature.

ELLIS G. MALPAS.

